Game Preview: New York Islanders at New York Rangers 2/14/13

New York Rangers7-5-0 (14 points – 3rd in Atlantic Division, 8th in Eastern Conference) 5-2-0 home

7:00 p.m.Madison Square Garden New York, NY

Television: MSG+ Howie Rose: Play-by-play, Butch Goring: Color

Radio: WHRU 88.7 FM Chris King: Play-by-play

Season series (0-1-0)The Islanders and Rangers met a week ago Thursday in a 4-1 victory for the Rangers at MSG. Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced, as John Tavares was the only Islanders player who could beat him. 2011 15th overall pick J.T. Miller scored his first two career goals.

Rangers player to watchMarian Gaborik - Right Wing Gaborik is tied for second on the team in scoring with nine points in 12 games. The Slovak leads the Rangers with six goals on the year and scored the game-winning goal in last week’s game against the Islanders.

Islanders Storylines •John Tavares and Matt Moulson have each tallied more points against the Rangers than any other team. Tavares has 20 points in 18 games, while Moulson has 21 points in 20 games. •The Islanders power play connected on 4-of-5 opportunities Monday vs. Carolina, marking the first time since April 8, 2006 the team scored four power play goals in one game.•Thursday’s game will be the sixth consecutive game the Islanders have played in New York State. The team will play two more at home before heading to Ottawa to face the Senators on Feb. 19.

"As far as the power play goes, it’s about getting pucks to the net, and outnumbering them and converging. That’s why we’ve had some success. We get in the zone and we’re not wasting too much time to try to get our shots through. I think our power play has done a good job with that and we’ve isolated guys and found those 2-on-1s like we need."